We can choose where we go, as our jobs allow us to be gainfully employed pretty much anywhere. That being said, inside the contiguous united states, where is the ultimate place to live that has the best diving and also snorkeling but isn't god-awful hot or full of cockroaches? I ride motorcycles so the longer the riding season the better also. Just probing for ideas. Thanks, Mike
akmike. . . it's time to change your name spelling to ar, yes Arkansas. Lake Ouachita in the Ouachita National Forest is a clear lake with hundreds of small sandy islands, you can claim for a weekend. It is the number one houseboat vacation rental lake in the country. . . no desert sand view, protected national forests. Two or three months a year with no need for wetsuits, a 5 mil suit will be comfortable for all but 3 months a year.
Most dives can start with snorkel tours. . . watching the fish swimming over sandy bottoms, or hunting the rock faces for crystals. Switching to SCUBA you can hunt fish, with most game fish legal to hunt, sight see surprises left by other divers, like the perfect use for a golf cart and clubs. Between dives there are several air fill stations around the lake, with equipment rental, and friendly local divers that will help you find interesting dive locations.
Reaching dive sites can be out of the back of your car, out of a small fishing boat, minutes from boat ramps, or miles from any houses or developments from a houseboat with a hot tub on the upper deck. You can tie up the houseboat close to restaurants, or in your own private cove, where you won't see one boat a day. Your choice.
Anywhere in the country you'll have to be concerned with weather. Hurricanes in Florida, Earthquakes in California, Tsunamis in the northwest. . . Well Tornadoes in the central part of the country. Tornadoes are usually smaller than the path of Interstate 35 in Texas, with far fewer fatalities than that highway in Austin Texas.
You mention motorcycles. . . Choose to ride in twisting country roads, or Interstate highways, straight through mountains of Arkansas, Tennessee, You're in the middle of the country, so you can go anywhere.
I don't live there, but I'm in driving range, and I've been there often.